An Officer died today of gun shot wounds he suffered while working in a plain clothes tactical unit. It appears Officer Valadez age 27 was responding to a call of shots fired and while sitting in his vehicle several unknown suspects drove by and shot repeatedly at Officer Valazdez' squad car.

Officer Valazdez is the 1st Officer to be killed in the line of duty by gun fire locally since I've been sworn in. I'm going to try my best to attend the Officer's funeral. Although I didn't know him personally, at the end of the day he bled the same color as I did....blue.

Officer Valazdez is survived by his pregnant fiance (police officer), and both his brother and sister (both police officers). Officer Valazdez is a 3 year veteran, who was stationed out of the 7th District of the Chicago Police Department. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family

The video below shows the impact Officer Valadez left on his friends and family.

Final Thought: I work plain clothes tomorrow. It's one of the more exciting aspects about working the job. The incident involving Officer Valazdez working in the plain clothes tactical unit is just a reminder of how dangerous the job is. This same reminder has me feeling a bit uneasy. It has nothing to do with fear, it has everything to do with awareness. Everyday I put the badge on I realize the potential risks. However there's nothing more I enjoy doing than going to work, so sometimes the rewards outweigh the risk.

Update 6/3/2009: Police arrested Kevin Walker, 21, (left) and Shawn Gaston, 20, (right) in connection of the murder of Officer Valazdez. According to reports both subjects have videotape confessions. Both subjects have an extensive criminal history which includes armed robbery, and several gun charges.

A buddy of mine at work yesterday gave me a little more insight as to what actually happened on the night of the murder. Of course he wasn't there, but his room mate is police officer who was half a block away at the time of the murder.

It appears Walker, and Gaston were involved in a gang dispute where they were fired upon only minutes before Officer Valazdez and other units responded to the call of shots fired. Walker and Gaston returned to the scene where they were shot at, and spotted Officer Valazez. Both subjects identified Officer Valazdez (dressed in plain clothes in an unmarked car) as a possible gang member who shot at them several minutes before, which lead to them shooting Officer Valazdez multiple times. This is an unofficial summary of the night's events, however from what I'm hearing there seems to be plenty of truth surrounding these details.

Regardless of what transpired before the murder, the fact is a 27 year old man lost his life while serving the community. His unborn child will never get to meet his or her father. With that in mind, I'm hoping prosecuters are pushing for the death penalty on these two pieces of shit. It's unfortunate, but young men like Walker and Gaston are the reason why law enforcement is recession proof. Yes that's right, the law enforcement community considers idiots like these two nothing more but "job security." Because as long as you have trash like them roaming the earth, you'll always need law enforcement to put them in their place. Their place in this case is behind a frigid cold and utterly disgusting jail cell, waiting in line for the electrical chair.

Funeral Arrangements:
Visitation 05 Jun 09 at Blake and Lamb Funeral Home
4727 W. 103rd St, Oak Lawn 1500-2100 hours
St. Judes at 1900 hours

Funeral Service at St. Bede's the Venerable
83rd and Kostner 1000 hours